"Touch her if you dare" Georgia Secession Flag Car Tag/Plate

Historical background: 

Carried through the streets of Savannah on the night of Dec. 26, 1860, this banner represents regional support of South Carolina’s decision to secede from the United States six days earlier. Prompted by the perceived threat posed by Abraham Lincoln and his Republican Party to the institution of slavery, South Carolina was the first to secede and declare its independence following Lincoln’s election as president the previous November. Six other states in the Deep South, including Georgia, followed suit during the early months of 1861. They would form a Southern Confederacy in March of that year.

The scene on the banner depicts a metaphor of Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi protecting South Carolina from attack by the United States. An American eagle symbolizes the Federal government, poised to strike against a woman cleaving a sword (South Carolina), protected by another woman with a sword and carrying the scales of justice and representing the other Deep South states. “Touch her if you dare” was a warning to the United States that if it tried to coerce South Carolina back into the Union, the other states would secede and defend her.

The artist, Fermin Cerveau, is best known for his painting of Savannah in 1837 (also on display in the reading room).